Right Eye
by GwennielOfNargothrond
Summary: It's not Peeta Katniss really needs. A more Gale/Catnip-friendly ending for the Hunger Games trilogy. I just didn't fancy Peeta. -.-


_After finishing Hunger Games' third part, Mockingjay, I was disappointed. I had all along been a Gale-fan, and somehow I hadn't never really liked Peeta. Not enough to be happy that Katniss chose him instead. I had been afraid Gale would get killed. He didn't, but I wasn't content with the ending of leadving him just as the jerk who left for District 2, probably already kissing some other girl.  
__So what to do? Write an alternative ending, of course. It's the last paragraphs rewritten. This is dedicated for all the Gale/Katniss fans out there, who can't hadle canon. 3_

_

* * *

_

**Right Eye.**

Peeta and I grow back together. That is to say, I no longer have to fear he's going to kill me, and we can talk freely again as we used to. I write and Peeta paints. I sing and Peeta bakes. What I miss, though, is hunting. Peeta once went with me hunting, but it wasn't like it used to. I remember how we hunted together in the arena. Peeta is born to bake and frost, but he just can't walk quietly, shoot arrows, make snares, or guard my back. When we walk back home he says a bit apologizing that he knows he's not a hunter. I shrug and admit that hunting skills aren't essential anymore, and at least he's a wonderful person. And that's true. But it's the last time we go hunting together.

Next time I come home from hunting, Peeta greets me with freshly baked cheese buns. I put my teeth in one of them although I'm not hungry. Peeta watches me silently. The boy with the bread.

"What's on your mind, sweetheart?" he says. I swallow my mouth empty, but say nothing.

"I'm just sad, I guess," I say at last. My words sound empty. I'm telling the truth, only, there's more to it.

"Because of Prim?" Peeta asks quietly and I nod. "But it's not everything, is it?" Peeta insists. "Katniss, don't even think you can fool me. I've known you long enough to see."

"In that case you'd see all I want now is some peace," I snap. Almost immediately I regret I'm once again being rude to him. But I can't stand his questioning and babbling. "How long have you known me? Not that long, really. Not personally."

He stares at me saying nothing. I leave him. But before I'm at the door I can hear his kind voice:

"It's not me you need, but someone else. Real or not real?"

I hesitate, and yet, I leave him. I am too tired to start arguing or explaining things. And furthermore, I have hurt his feelings more than enough.

I see a flower - a dandelion. But I won't pick it up. Instead I rush back into the forest and into it. That boy with the bread can be a friend, but nothing more. It's over. The kissings, the caresses, the pretending to love him. I stop running and slow my pace. Did I ever really love him or was it always a scheme to trick Capitol? I think I, at one point, loved him. Because I needed him. Because at that time he was all I had left. And I stop. I shake my head to get rid of the confusion. I shouldn't mind, because in fact, it's not like I would ever have wanted to get married. Or to fall in love. But why did I, then? Or did I? These thoughts confuse me even more, and I sit down on a stone and bury my head in my hands.

Then there's a rustle. I spring up. How did I not take my arrows with me?I cannot face a wild animal - possibly a bear or a cougar - alone. Now I would need someone. Someone to cover my back. Even someone as lousy at it as Peeta. But most of all someone like Gale. He is like my shadow, like my right eye. The way we connect and communicate without words and the way we know each other.

"Hey, Catnip." I hear a voice above me in a tree and I don't even have to look up to know who it belongs to.

"Hey, Gale," I answer out of old habit. "You - what are you doing here?"

"You didn't think I'd stay in District 2 forever, did you?" he replies and jumps down from the tree branch on the ground beside me. "I helped them to get it safe and stable and then I took the train here. And then I went hunting."

I see two rabbits he has caught. I am still so upset and surprised that I cannot answer with anything but silence. And Gale accepts it. I sit back on the stone. When Gale after a moment sits down beside me I realize where we are. It's our old meeting place where we've been so many times. The same stone where we sat on during the interview for the propos. Gale fingers with grasses and flowers. Not just any kind of grass. It's wild onions - like those Peeta made bouquet out of after our first Games. And most of all like those me and Gale had gathered so many times.

"Gale?" I whisper.

"Yes?" he says softly.

"I'm sorry," I whimper and can get out no more. But Gale knows me, and asks no more. He has always known me. He takes me into his strong arms and we say nothing.

And I love it. The silence, the smell, the warmth. I love it all. And I kiss him.

That's the thing about kissing Gale. Whatever the reasons may have been, i have never pretended and never done it just for show. His kisses are something I can trust. He kisses me back, but stops then and asks:

"What are you thinking of?" I know he wants to know whether I kiss because of him or just because I feel like kissing.

"Of you," I reply. "Of how glad I am you're back. Of how I've always needed you." He rises his eyebrows as if to ask me to go on and explain. "You don't have to be in pain or danger for me to love you. It just was the thing that made me realize that I really would do it anyway." My explanation sounds all wrong and horrible.

But Gale doesn't pull away. "What about Peeta, then? he asks.

I breath deep before I blurt out something stupid again. "He, too, made me realize. He may paint my portrait and he may have saved my life. But you have also saved it. And not just saved it - fixed it, too. You are my right eye."

It sound silly, nonetheless. But Gale smiles. And he kisses me back. It's him I need. Real.

_-The End-_


End file.
